


the trick is to keep breathing

by ElasticElla



Series: drabble the halls [4]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Season/Series 01, mentioned/side ships: alec/raj & clary/jace/simon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:22:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9086620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Isabelle had always ignored her words- I believe in payment for services rendered.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lilypotter72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilypotter72/gifts).



> title from a garbage song of the same name

Isabelle had always ignored her words- _I believe in payment for services rendered_. They were all too easy to spot, cursive script crawling down the lower half of her arm and stopping in the center of her left palm. Maryse insisted on her wearing elbow length gloves when she was younger to cover them, and Izzy agreed on the condition that they were black leather. It was a suitable compromise, and Izzy could have gone her entire life in those gloves. 

Only Raj ripped the left one in half during a sparring match by mistake, all wide eyes and stammered apologies as her words were exposed to all their classmates. 

It didn't take longer than an hour for people to start smirking like they knew what she would become- shadowhunters didn't need to sell their bodies, surely she'd be stripped of her runes and turned mundane. And even if it was just a simple shadowhunter approved mission like Izzy insisted with red cheeks, then that meant her soulmate _couldn't_ be a shadowhunter. 

After that day, Izzy avoided her mother's looks and long gloves. They couldn't hurt you with something you were unashamed of, and Isabelle refused to be ashamed. She refused to care about the words, to trace them in the dark while thinking about who might say them, to ever fall in love. 

She didn't need them. 

So when Magnus Bane offers her the Amor necklace back, the very jewel she'd been coveting ever since she saw it, it's no surprise she doesn't catch everything he's saying. 

“-Thank you for defending the warlocks.” 

“I couldn't,” Izzy breathes, as Magnus dangles the jewel before her eyes. 

“Oh, but you could,” he replies, turning behind her. “And you should. The Lightwoods have been wearing this for years.” He puts the necklace on, and it feels heavier now, Izzy can't help but touch the edge. 

“Besides,” he confesses, lips by her ear, “this would look silly on your brother.” 

And Izzy's smile comes fast, half relief half amusement. The exorbitant gift hadn't been personal, not that the half-formed idea had even made sense. He's asking if Alec is more a cologne or flowers man, and Jace's lips are narrowed. 

Izzy ignores him, “He's a man with a found soulmate.” Rolling her eyes, she adds in a lower tone, “Jace doesn't approve of the whole dating other people thing, but it's not like Alec's actually going out with R- his person. Cologne.” 

She isn't surprised that Jace corners her when Clary and Magnus are off talking, but she is surprised by how adamant he is. 

“Iz, I can't believe- don't you _care_ about him?” 

Izzy's eyebrows pop, she thought her and Jace were finally on the same page with this. “We both agreed Alec needs a little push before he goes after a certain dashing shadowhunter. If Magnus is interested even knowing they aren't soulmates, I don't know why-” 

“Look,” Jace interrupts, “a soulmate bond, it's way more powerful than any other rune. It's different feeling than a parabatai bond, but the intensity is the same, okay Iz?” 

Isabelle can't help but roll her eyes. “Because you know so much with your excessive experience of what, two days with Clary and Simon?”

Jace sighs, clearly exasperated as Magnus calls for them into the other room. “Just don't underestimate it.” 

And Izzy thinks her plan to get Alec a little more comfortable being himself- even if it isn't with Raj- is still solid, but whatever. She'll take a step back. (She sees Magnus already situated himself next to Alec for calling the demon, and she smiles. She doesn't even need to play matchmaker.)

The rest of the summoning doesn't go as smoothly unfortunately, Alec breaking the circle over the memory of Raj saying his words, but in the end Jace is alive and everyone's safe. 

.

Maryse orders them to check in with the Seelies, and Jace is acting weird about the whole thing. 

He finally turns to her and says, “I can visit Meliorn alone if you want.” 

Izzy laughs, trailing off when she realizes it's a serious offer. 

“Are you really not going to at least try with your soul-”

Izzy closes her eyes and counts to three. “Look Jace, I love you and I'm so glad you're happy with Simon and Clary. But please, can we go back to not talking about my arm? I just want to visit my lover, maybe get some intel, and have a quiet evening.” 

Jace bites his lip, “I just thought with the nec- never mind, alright. I won't mention it again.”

“Thanks.” 

.

Maryse is pushing for respectability and Izzy knows she has to step up. The alternative is Alec being pushed into some arrangement with a widow or a nameless or a lesbian, and Izzy _knows_ he's been progressing lately. Raj has been practically skipping around the church, or smiling at least, and she even saw them talking in public.

So she writes Meliorn a pitifully short firenote, and brings out all the less revealing clothes she never touches. She can do this, she can restore their name. 

.

…it turns out restoring a name takes more than good deeds and dressing the part. And rescuing Meliorn certainly didn't help, putting her on trial for high treason. She knows the Inquisitor just wants to get the cup but still, if Clary didn't come back in time-

No. She wasn't going to think like that. She was Isabelle Lightwood. Even if she was banished and defenseless, she would survive. 

She sends her brother to beg Magnus to be her advocate. “Tell him he can ask any favor of me, or a year's servitude, whatever his going rate is. Don't feel obliged to prostitute yourself.”

Alec pales, and Izzy sighs, “That was a joke. But he's more likely to say yes to you than a random messenger.” 

“We're just friends-” Alec says, and Izzy waves him off. 

By some miracle, Magnus agrees to represent her and Izzy thinks she might just have a shot. 

That's until the trial starts and it becomes quickly apparent that they're viewing empathy as a weakness, and Isabelle snaps. 

She's already lost this, Jace and Clary might be lost to this universe entirely with the cup, and there's nothing stopping Izzy from speaking her mind. So she does- rails against everything the Clave has drilled into her, from how they don't value downworlders to how they'll inevitably turn on one another. 

The Madam Inquisitor isn't impressed, giving her a day to find the Cup or to be stripped of her runes and exiled. 

Isabelle almost laughs. There's nothing keeping her in this world besides her family and wanting to help others- and surely mundanes had ways to help one another. And they wouldn't be so cold, couldn't be so heartless. Perhaps the words had done some good, prepared her for this possibility oh-so long ago.

They're waiting in the room Izzy's grown too accustomed to, and she suddenly turns to Magnus with a curious smile. 

“So what did my brother promise you?” 

“Nothing.” 

Izzy's eyes go wide, “ _What_. I told him to offer-”

A soft laugh passes Magnus's lips, “He gave me a piece of information and I was happy to help.” 

Izzy's eyebrows come together, “Oh. Well, thank you.” 

“You aren't curious what was so interesting that I gave up an entire evening of magical Pachisi?” 

“Well now I am,” Isabelle says with an indulgent smile. 

Magnus starts unbuttoning his shirt, and she might have missed something. And then she sees two words exactly where she draws her angelic power rune, _I couldn't_.

She slowly turns her arm up, and it's as if she's never really seen the words before, a hazy memory coming back of Magnus presenting the necklace and saying her words. 

“I have to say, you really had the easier sentence to catch. You would not believe the number of people that have said _I couldn't_ to me over the centuries.” 

Everything is clicking in a new way, Jace's and Alec's reactions and Izzy still can't believe Magnus- _Magnus Bane_ is her soulmate. 

A wild smile overtakes Izzy's lips, “Sorry about being born so late.” 

And Magnus laughs, extending a hand that she takes, “I suppose I won't blame you for that.”


End file.
